Fossil fuel reserves are very restricted, and thus the depletion of the fossil fuel cannot is inevitable. In particular, since main emission sources of greenhouse gas causing global warming are fuel reserves, advanced countries have been focused on developing hydrogen energy, and the like, using alternative energy or atomic energy so as to decrease fossil fuels. An example of energy sources which have emerged as alternative energy may include solar energy, wind power, hydrogen energy, biomass, and the like. To use solar power or wind power, auxiliary facilities, such as a solar panel and a windmill, are required. However, since a wide space is required to install the solar panel or the windmill, other environmental problems, such as destruction of ecosystem and noise, may occur. Future energy needs requirements, such as environmental acceptability, economic productibility, and eternal capability.
A fuel cell is a cell which directly converts chemical energy generated by oxidation into electrical energy and is a new eco-friendly future energy technology of generating electrical energy from materials, which richly exist on earth, such as hydrogen and oxygen.
The fuel cell performs an electrochemical reaction in an electrolysis reverse reaction type of water by supplying oxygen to a cathode and hydrogen to an anode to produce electricity, heat, and water, thereby generating electrical energy at high efficiency without inducing pollutants.
A fuel cell vehicle is a future vehicle of a type of allowing a fuel cell using a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen to drive an electric motor and therefore is likely to lead a future automobile industry. The technology may expect to reduce driving cost due to remarkable improvement of fuel efficiency and prevent air pollution due to reduction in exhaust gas.
For commercialization of the fuel cell vehicle, many problems, such as a method of manufacturing a fuel cell vehicle at a reasonable price, development of a fuel cell system with high efficiency, a technology of obtaining a large amount of hydrogen at a reasonable price, a safety hydrogen transportation system, a hydrogen repository, a pressure device for charging a vehicle at a reasonable price, construction of hydrogen infrastructure, and the like, are to be solved. Among them, many methods of increasing efficiency of a fuel cell system have been researched.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,767,328 discloses a system of tracking an optimal operation point of a fuel cell in a power supply device using a fuel cell and a power supply device including the system of tracking an optimal operation point of a fuel cell.